Why leaders’ response to the pandemic has fallen short

There is a significant divide between what leaders think their companies are offering in terms of employee support and how employees think and feel about it.

Do you believe that you are providing sufficient support to your team during this return-to-work phase? Are you investing enough in the wellbeing of your employees? According to recent research from the IBM Institute for Business Value, you may not be doing as much as your employees actually need.

The study, which gathered data from thousands of executives and employees in over 20 countries, showed that there is a significant divide between what leaders think their companies are offering in terms of employee support and how their employees think and feel about the actual support they are receiving.

For example, 80% of the executives surveyed say that they are supporting the physical and emotional health of their workforce, but only 46% of their employees agree. What’s alarming is that these divergent views extend to almost all of the employers’ responses to the pandemic, from clearly communicating with employees to helping employees to learn the skills required to work in a hybrid (home and office) environment.

I have heard quite a few leaders express their frustration over their efforts not being recognised and appreciated, especially when dealing with the pressures and challenges presented by the current changing and uncertain environment. But the employees are under pressure as well as they try to keep themselves healthy and safe whilst delivering on their professional responsibilities.

If leaders don’t step up their efforts significantly and start to offer first-level support to meet their people’s wellbeing needs, they will see their key talent flock like migratory birds to companies that did decide to invest in employee wellbeing as soon as the job market recovers. 

After all, the leader’s values will be reflected in their action or inactions.

Always at the service of your wellbeing,

César

How to strengthen someone’s immune system with an emoticon.

A simple message showing that you care, can make your dear ones/someone healthier.

Some of us have been better able to cope with the social isolation brought to us by the travel and movement restrictions, than others.  Perhaps you have found a way to uplift your mood and build a level of emotional resilience that has allowed you to see things through.  

If this is the case, I’m happy for you, but that means the job is half done.

It’s our responsibility to reach out to others regularly, whether they are family, friends or co-workers, and make sure that they are not feeling the physical, mental and the obvious emotional struggles of loneliness.

Social interaction is so hard-wired in us that isolation tricks our body into thinking it’s in danger. When our brain senses that we are lonely, our nervous system activates the fight-or-flight response, and our immune system turns off some of our antiviral defences. To make things worse, in its quest to divert resources to deal with this perceived threat, our immune system turns on an inflammatory reaction that raises the risk of contracting innumerable ill-health conditions.

That’s why I’d like to encourage you to reach out to at least one person a day who you think would benefit from social contact. It just takes a voice message, a text, an email, an emoticon or a phone call to help people in our immediate social network to be less exposed and debilitated by the experience  of loneliness.

I read somewhere that “lonely is not being alone; it’s the feeling that no one cares”.

Prove them wrong and show them that you care.

Always at the service of your wellbeing,

César